Leslie March, Oregon Chapter Director for Levees.org

We are pleased to share that Levees.org’s Oregon Chapter Director Leslie March has recently earned her MBA in Sustainable Business from Marylhurst University.  Her dissertation focused on the Holy Cross and Lower Ninth Ward Sustainable Restoration Plan after five years.

The interesting report details how after the hurricane protection levees in New Orleans failed destroying two historic neighborhoods, the community was faced with the daunting task of rebuilding, The two neighborhoods, the Lower Ninth Ward and the Holy Cross chose to improve their quality of life by joining together in 2006 to create a sustainable restoration Plan to guide the rebuilding of their community.

In five years, the Plan and its implementation arm, the Sustainable Engagement Development have many achievements to tout including engaging members to represent neighborhoods at government meetings, successful suit against the Army Corps of Engineers for widening the nearby Industrial Canal, establishment of two community gardens and weekly farmers market and many more. The historical character of Holy Cross is living side by side with modern solar panels. The Bayou Bienvenue platform creates a vision of what quality of life can be with sustainability. While population recovery has been slow, even with outside help continuing to arrive, the community is poised to work with the original plan to carry on the work past recovery.

For full report, click here.